zlacker

The source is called news.arc and you can find old versions on the Web, e.g. https://github.com/nex3/arc/ https://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/master/lib/how-to-run-news

>>wmf+(OP)
thanks, but to clarify: I'm not proposing to open source it for the purpose of looking at the code or forking my own HN-version.

instead i'm proposing that building _this_ site becomes an community effort, with open feature discussions and people committing code to the HN code base.

there is an army of people who deeply care about HN, and are very skilled to help out. i think it would be smart to use that asset.

>>muelle+C
As far as features go, diminishing returns at this point.

>>muelle+C
For whatever reason pg just doesn't want to do that. Perhaps he doesn't want building HN itself to become a distraction (for other people) from building more useful stuff like startups. There may be a sort of contradiction where ninja rockstar programmers are too valuable to waste on improving HN, but HN is simultaneously too important to be put in the hands of mediocre programmers.

HN is kind of a double-edged sword because while it is educational it's also distracting and addictive. If making HN better also makes it more of a time-suck, the exercise could be a net negative for the community.

>>muelle+C
I think any improvements would make this site worse.

It is so very common for projects to inflate with new features until they become useless piles of filth. The fact that HN is a bit clunky is a feature not a bug. It will only attract and retain a certain type.

>>muelle+C
Eh, _this_ site is a funnel of valuable applicants (and proprietary candidate evaluation tool) for YCombinator. Not to mention the needs-to-be-secret voting-ring detection algos that surely exist by now, this site will likely never be a community project.

>>atomic+e2
Really? A mobile friendlier theme? Better markup? Arrows that are pressable? Being able to correct an incorrect comment vote? Those don't change the character of the site but would enhance its usability greatly.

>>wmf+z3
Reddit aint what it used to be.

Tech oriented users are exiling to other places, including here.

People are disappointed with the current featureset.

I smell opportunity for someone.

>>muelle+C
>instead i'm proposing that building _this_ site becomes an community effort, with open feature discussions and people committing code to the HN code base.

Lamer News is similar to HN and community driven, so if you have energy to spare that's as good a place as any to put it. If pg wanted HN to evolve, it would evolve. Most people are happy with it as-is, tech-wise.

>>colech+p4
You probably meant it slightly differently, but improvements that make things worse are per definition not improvements.

I get that people don't want HN to get worse than it is. But i don't get why people think open sourcing it would result in that.

I trust PG would be the kind of project lead who only accepts pull requests that would actually improve the site.

And I trust the community has a lot of smart people who would come up with solutions that would actually improve this site.

>>driveb+L4
There are mobile clients for hn, arent't there?

>>driveb+L4
Mobile friendly is low hanging fruit. How many improper up/down votes have resulted because of an insanely difficult up/down arrow touch-point? I know that I am responsible for a few.